Paul has a newish album out — his 10th — called “What the Hell is Goin’ On?” and it’s just about all cover songs that rock out.

He’ll be doing lots of that stuff at the show.

“Usually, I write all the songs,” Paul said as he cruised down a California highway. “I just wanted to have some fun and do songs that I like. I have a really great band and we made them our own. I wanted to take a break from myself and have a great time.”

Paul’s fan base is growing and he’s also helping the writers of the songs he covered a bit of recognition.

“We picked the ones we do the best,” Paul said. He said something about criticism being “good if given in the right spirit,” then in almost the same breath mentioned that he doesn’t do much solo work anymore. So I opted to not tell him that I, personally, prefer his acoustic stuff. Hey, that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla, right?

“I occasionally do an acoustic show here and there. If you have a good song, you can play it by yourself and it still sounds good,” he said. “If it doesn’t sound good when you play it by yourself, it isn’t a good song.”

Because of the economy, finances often dictate how Paul and his band get from one place to another.

“Sometimes we travel by air, sometimes we travel by van, depending on what we can afford at the moment. You have to be smart traveling these days, especially if you’re struggling,” he said.

“Thankfully, we’re not. But we still try to live beneath our means,” said Paul.

Wherever he happens to be, Paul tries to be not too far from his laptop.

“I can’t write at all when I’m home,” he explained. “When I’m home, I’m enjoying being with my wife and kids. I mostly do it when I’m on the road. It used to be all notebooks. Now that I have a laptop, I put all my ideas in drafts.”

He’s not the most patient songwriter.

“If they don’t turn into something in a couple of days, I delete ’em,” Paul said.